Why Vite di corsa (racing lives)? Because this book is not a novel but a rather serious narrative of meetings, many of them taking place within or through the motor racing environment, where the stars are “transient” as they speed across the most diverse of years.

Captains of industry, racing drivers, managers, designers, musicians, even an astronaut and a footballer are among the most famous people the author has met during F1 Grand Prix days. He has delved deeply into a number of such people, others less so, but he has always received a powerful impact that has generated highly personal sensations and considerations.

So here is a wide-ranging selection of great names seen up close, as rarely happens, with all their strength, charisma and weaknesses. A picture of a special world, exclusive, sometimes able to transmit unexpected sentiments.

The people the author has selected as the stars of this book are: Gianni Agnelli, Giovannino Agnelli, Jean Alesi, Mario Andretti, Flavio Briatore, Mario e Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Pete Conrad, Gian Paolo Dallara, Bernie Ecclestone, Enzo Ferrari, Mauro Forghieri, Lewis Hamilton, George Harrison, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Joe Macaluso, Diego Armando Maradona, Sergio Marchionne, Carlos Menem, Sandro Munari, Alessandro Onassis, Clay Regazzoni, Cesare Romiti, Ayrton Senna, Sebastian Vettel, Gilles Villeneuve and Jacques Villeneuve